Once Bit, Deep Smit
by everyl1ttleth1ng
Summary: "I'm smitten. I'm in deep smit." Charlie Makenzie Mike Myers "So I Married An Axe Murderer" 1993 This story picks up the action in the classroom exactly where we last see Gwen Stacey in "The Amazing Spiderman" film, released 2012. Obviously, I own nothing!
1. Chapter 1

**Once Bit, Deep Smit**

Chapter One

For the remainder of the period, despite the grief that weighed her down with a weariness that infected every her inch, Gwen was conscious only of Peter's eyes on the back of her neck. She all but physically pressed herself back towards him, imagining she felt the warmth of his breath, anticipating the moment that he would whisper to her or reach out for her, but it never came. She watched the clock tick interminably towards the jarring of the bell and had already placed her right foot into the aisle and inclined her right shoulder over which, while the other students clattered to their feet, she slowly turned her head, smiling somewhat coyly. An empty desk.

She whirled round in time to see the back of a sneaker as a boy who may have been Peter disappeared through the classroom door into the corridor beyond. Had he heard sirens? A familiar anxiety seemed to pull at the flesh around her shoulder blades. Dr Connors was behind bars, but what else might Peter have to pit himself against? For weeks now she had fretted for him when he was out of her sight and when he was in her sight she had had to feel him turn to watch her walk past, his head almost reverentially bowed, his eyes full of longing. If Peter were to let her in, she would have to learn to cope with knowing details. Her father all over again.

But if he hadn't heard sirens, she didn't much like the alternative. He'd let his guard down. He'd made a mistake that he'd instantly regretted and had bolted in an attempt to salvage his integrity, to keep this mysterious promise that he'd made to Captain Stacey as he died. As much as she ached for Peter, she also ached to hear about her father's last moments and she harboured real anger at him for insisting on holding even those moments inside his silence.

The school day wore on. As with every day since that awful day the hot tears were right behind her eyes and at lunch she took refuge behind her locker door for a minute to let them fall. She had no experience of this. Gwen had always looked down on girls who cried at school. She assumed that they only wept over trivial slights or no date for the dance. Peter had kept his hood up over his face and his head ducked low as he had wept for his Uncle Ben, and the darkness of her locker served that same purpose now.

"Wanna get out of here?" Peter stood right next to her, closer than he had been since he threw her out the window of the hallway, only just around the corner from where they now stood. Gwen pressed her hands to her face to stem the tears and wiped them away, steadily meeting his eyes. He uncertainly bit his lower lip, his brow furrowed with concern. His eyes spoke of his yearning for her in ways she could never imagine him articulating.

She looked down at his empty hands. "Where's your board?"

Peter cast a glance down at his hands as if equally surprised to find them empty. "Err, it's in my locker."

"Wanna go skating?" For the first time in weeks, Peter's face split into the broad grin she loved. She couldn't help but grin back.

He looked at her appraisingly. "You gonna skate dressed like that?"

She looked down at her knee-high boots, kilt and cardigan. "Yeah, I guess not. Come to my window in half an hour?"

Peter looked puzzled. "You got a board?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can find one."

Peter smiled broadly again. "Mysterious."

Gwen wiped her face again, grabbed her bag and slapped her locker closed. "See you soon."

Peter watched her walk away with a bemused smile. Before she disappeared from view, she looked over her shoulder to smile at him still standing there, just as she had after his first attempt to ask her out. So much had changed in their lives since then but he still found himself almost skipping down the hall.


	2. Chapter 2

Peter dropped onto the ledge outside Gwen's window and peered into her empty room. The door was open into the hall and a well-loved deck lay wheels-up on her bed. He smiled to himself and stood back a little to make sure he couldn't be seen by anyone walking past the open door. Gwen appeared in the doorway in the process of tying her blonde hair up off her face. He had rarely seen her dressed so casually in worn-in blue jeans, a grey t-shirt with a bright yellow design and a pretty convincingly battered pair of black Vans. He lowered himself to knock on her window and she turned to smile at him as she yanked a red hoodie out of her closet and pulled it on, motioning for him to come in.

"You realise you've just become dream-girl material, right?" Peter joked as he dropped to the floor of her room.

Gwen laughed. "And here I was thinking that it was my deportment and brains that would have the boys come a-running."

"Skating is too often overlooked." He was smiling but Gwen saw Peter glance nervously toward the open door.

"It's ok, no one's home. So, Spiderman, now that the coast is clear, do you think you can face the doorman?"

Peter shrugged. "Guess I'll meet you out front."

Gwen's musical laugh echoed in the corridor as she headed for the front door and Peter eased himself out the window. Within a moment he was at the entrance to her building, perched on his board waiting and he watched as the lift doors open and Gwen walked through the sunlit lobby, holding the board so naturally it looked like an extension of her self.

Gwen dropped the deck in front of her as the revolving doors swung her out into the air and coasted casually past Peter who sat reflecting on how much he hadn't been joking about her being dream-girl material.

She pushed off from the ground again and looked back over her shoulder to see him still crouched on the ground watching her.

"You coming?" she called back.

Peter caught up to her and noted the genuine joy he felt skating along behind her as she ducked and weaved along the Manhattan sidewalk with an easy grace.

"How come I never knew you could skate?" he said, as the sidewalk cleared and they could skate side-by-side.

"Were we up to the "I can skate" stage of our relationship?" Gwen asked cheekily. "I never know when the time is right to bring that up." She tacked around the corner of a looming building, avoiding potholes and pedestrians with ease. Peter revelled in the looseness of her posture as she skated, the competent way her foot found the ground and pushed off again, the simplicity of the way she was dressed, the way she wore her hair, the easy way she was with him. He felt free and happy and utterly confirmed in his decision. Captain Stacey had overthought things as a protective father. No bystander could know that one of the two kids skating through the park was Spiderman. He would never be placing her in danger just by caring for her and letting her care for him.

They had covered so much of the city on their boards not talking much but thrilling in movement and freedom and the presence of one another. Somehow, as the sun began to slip below the silhouetted buildings on the horizon, they arrived back outside the entrance to Gwen's building. She stepped off and stomped her foot expertly onto the end of her board so that it leapt up into her hand.

"I better go up," she said. "Mum's pretty thingy about me being home on time for dinner these days."

Peter caught the resonance of loss and thought of Aunt Mae. "Yeah, I'd better get going too."

Gwen smiled. "Thanks for today, I really needed that," she said and was immediately swallowed up by the glass doors.

As Peter skated home, he registered that they hadn't even touched, hadn't kissed, hadn't said all the things that needed to be said and yet, he felt as close to happy as he thought he could get.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter perched upside down in the corner of his room after dinner struggling through a slough of biology reading. Even concepts that usually came naturally to him seemed clunky and foreign tonight. His head was full of Gwen, and full of the absence of her. He kept smiling to himself as he pictured her skating and then trying to physically shake his head free of this appealing distraction. The police radio on his desk crackled and fizzed quietly, providing his accustomed soundscape. He rubbed his eyes and dropped silently to the floor to pull another book out of his bag, hoping for better luck. Suddenly the voice on the radio sounded louder and more urgent, or perhaps it was just the months that he has spent listening for these particular words. "Back-up required. Assailant fleeing 7-Eleven corner Madison and Thirteenth Street. Suspect armed, Caucasian, medium build, shoulder-length blonde hair." Before he had formed a coherent thought, Peter was suited-up and leaping out his bedroom window.

His ears rang with the sirens as he approached the scene. Another older man, not unlike his Uncle Ben, lay bleeding, corralled by yellow tape. Peter kept moving, following the sounds of the police motorbikes that carried on the pursuit. He saw the man, the man that he could never stop looking for, mounting the steps of a derelict building. He shot a web up to a fire escape above and swung himself feet first into the back of the fleeing suspect smashing him onto the landing he had just reached. Peter held the man down, twisting his arm behind his back as if to cuff him, seeking the mark that would open new possibilities.

There it was – the star that marked this man for death and marked Peter as his executioner. Peter yanked the thief's other arm much harder behind his back and secured his wrists with webbing. Hot rage built behind his eyes as he dragged his prisoner across the threshold of the ruined house with a quick glance over his shoulder to ensure he hadn't been seen. He brutally yanked the thief's cuffed wrists upwards, enjoying the sound of his shoulders popping out of joint as he dropped them over a protruding wooden bannister. He unleashed a volley of blows to the man's face and torso, each connection of knuckle against hard flesh only serving to fuel his lust for vengeance rather than quench it. With every hit, Peter let out an unconscious roar. He could never convey his suffering in words, this guy would have to learn about Peter's pain by feeling it physically inflicted. Uncle Ben's murderer stood in front of him shrieking in pain, his face distorted by his agony and terror. But the further Peter went, the more he realised that he didn't know where to go next. Was he really planning to hit this man until he died here?

Peter shook his head and came to. He remembered this face and remembered that this man was not the only one complicit in his uncle's death. Peter himself had failed to act. Peter himself had sought to benefit from this man's crime. The righteous indignation he felt only a moment ago crumbled into crushing guilt. How could the media be depicting Spiderman as a hero? He felt just as much a monster as the killer cowering in front of him. Something made him think of Gwen. Would she understand if Peter took this man's life? He had planned this so long and yet not ever contemplated what it would mean to actually kill. He felt utterly defeated. Behind his mask the hot tears blinded him and without a word he lifted his screeching prisoner free of the bannister, secured him tightly with webbing and frog-marched him out to the nearest police car.

The lone cop at the car lowered his weapon. He didn't know what to say to Spiderman but duly made a record of the star tattoo on the bloodied suspect's inside left wrist that the masked man seemed at pains for him to notice. Within an instant, Spiderman was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

There was only one place Peter felt he could go and he found his way there without the use of his eyes. He collapsed onto the ledge outside Gwen's window where he lay, his body wracked with sobs. In an instant he became aware of her scent and the light pressure of her hand stroking his back.

"Peter!" she whispered in an urgent, frightened voice. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

He couldn't answer.

"Peter, please!" she cried. "Talk to me! Are you hurt?"

"I'm not hurt," he managed to croak.

"Please, just come inside," Gwen whispered, somewhat relieved.

He slid himself through the window. "I can't go home right now." He pulled off his hood and found her frightened eyes. "Can I just sit for a while?"

She nodded and he curled up into a ball beneath the window, his back against the wall, his arms hugging his knees tightly to his body, his face hidden.

Gwen could only sit close beside him and watch as he quietly wept. She could see his shoulders shaking and she desperately willed him comfort through the pressure of her body next to his. It seemed like an age before his shudders subsided and he was still, but his head stayed down.

"Peter?" Gwen ventured to whisper. "What happened?"

Peter slowly lifted his head. "I could have killed someone tonight." Steel came into his voice. "I'm no hero, Gwen. You hear me? I nearly killed a man tonight."

Gwen looked puzzled. "You mean there was someone you thought you weren't going to be able to save?"

Peter laughed without humour. "You _do_ think I'm some kind of hero, don't you?" He turned to look angrily into her eyes. "Well, let me tell you how wrong you are. Tonight I found the thief who shot my uncle. I took him off the street where nobody could see me. I dislocated both his shoulders and enjoyed the sound of his screaming. I was going to get revenge. I was going to beat him to death."

Gwen's eyes were full of fear. "But you didn't do it, right?" she whispered. "You didn't kill him."

He was silent for a moment.

"Peter?"

"No, didn't kill him. I handed him over to the police." Gwen saw fresh tears spill down his face but she let him sit in silence for what seemed another eternity.

"I can't even ask Uncle Ben to forgive me." He dropped his head back onto his knees.

"Do you really think your uncle would have wanted you to hunt down and kill the guy?"

Peter shook his head but didn't lift his face. "No." His voice was muffled. He paused. "I mean I can't ask Uncle Ben to forgive me for letting him die."

"What could you have done?" Gwen pleaded. "How could you have stopped him from dying?"

Peter's head snapped upright and he almost shouted at her. "'Cause I was there! I watched the thief rob the store, I was even ready to share what he'd stolen. The clerk had been a dick so when he asked me to help him catch the thief, which you and I both know I could have done, do you know what I said? I said, 'Not my policy!' I refused to help, I walked away. But my brave, stupid Uncle Ben was out walking the streets. Worst of all, he was looking for me 'cause I'd walked out after a we'd had a fight. He heard the clerk's call for help and must have tackled the thief. I heard a gun shot and ran across the street to find Uncle Ben on the sidewalk in a river of blood. You know I could have stopped it. I should have stopped it!"

For a long time she was quiet, letting him weep. Then she spoke, so softly he could barely hear her. "Peter, I know I can't ever understand how that feels. I can't know what it was like for you to lose your parents so young and lose your Uncle Ben the way that you did, but," her voice broke, "I know what it's like to have no father and to feel useless and lost without him."

Peter reached out and pulled her close to him and the two of them sat crouched in the corner of her room, grieving together. In the moment, Gwen was so devastated for the loss of her father that she simply couldn't register being in Peter's arms as anything other than something to steady her. She wept and wept and he held her tight as each wave of grief came over her. As her turn subsided, Gwen pulled away and found Peter's face. "I need to know about that night, Peter. Can you tell me how my father died? Can you tell me what he said to you?"

Peter looked pained. "Now?"

"Please, Peter. I need to know," she pleaded. "I know it's hard for you but it's hard for me not having been there."

Peter knew he couldn't make her wait. He manoeuvred himself until he sat cross-legged on the floor opposite her, their knees touching. He took both her hands in his and thought for a moment. "First, I wanted to tell you that I was at your father's funeral."

Gwen looked up, surprised. "I didn't see you there!"

"I was using all I had not to let you see me. I think you sensed me there once. You looked up and almost saw me but I ducked out of sight. Anyway, everything they said was true. You're right to be proud to be his daughter." Peter paused, steadying himself. "On the roof of Oscorp, he gave me the antidote, helped me freeze Dr Connors with liquid nitrogen and held him at bay with every bullet in his gun while I climbed the tower to replace the serum with the antidote you made. By the time I got back to him, the tower had collapsed and Connors himself had been the one to pull me back from the edge of the building. Lizard Connors had destroyed my webs and Human Connors knew what he'd done. He knew that if he didn't grab me, I'd fall to my death. I ran to your dad and found him with his back against a wall, his gun at the ready in case he had another chance to intervene. I tried to move him but Connors had grabbed your dad and lifted him in the air with his claws. His body was so badly pierced that he knew he couldn't have survived."

Peter paused. Gwen's tears fell silently but she didn't take her eyes from his face. He looked down and fiddled with the top of his boot. "Your dad told me that he'd realised he was wrong about me. He told me that the city needs me and that I'd need to be gone by the time the police got to the scene. He warned me that I'd make enemies and that the enemies would come after the people that I loved."

Peter took in a long breath. "That's when he made me promise to leave you out of it and what I'm doing right now is a total betrayal of that promise. He loved you, Gwen, and he loved your family. Of course he wanted you kept safe – I want you kept safe!" He paused again, pulling her hands close to his chest. "But, I don't know how to keep that promise I made to your dad because…"

"Because?" she whispered.

"Because… I need you, Gwen! I don't think I can be of any use to anyone without you. Until I whispered those words to you in English this morning, I was just dried out. Today," he laughed at his awkward choice of metaphor, "Well, today you rehydrated me." They both laughed and felt the relief of some of the night's tension dissipating.

"Peter, I'm the only one who knows that you're Spiderman, right?" Gwen asked.

"I'm pretty sure, but it seems that there are a heck of a lot of videos on the internet. I guess it wouldn't take much for someone to catch me."

Gwen jumped up and offered her hand to pull Peter to his feet. She led him towards the door of her room and went to casually lead him out into the hall.

"Gwen!" Peter whispered, pulling back. "What are you doing? Your mom! Your brothers!"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I didn't get a chance to say earlier, I'd just said goodbye to them when you arrived." She smiled. "Let's get some tea."


	5. Chapter 5

Peter amused himself watching Gwen as she went through her own personal little tea ceremony. In the bright lights of the kitchen he could see that they both looked totally drained but he felt more peaceful having said all that he'd said. Gwen took out a tray and arranged a mismatched pair of cups and saucers alongside her teapot, strainer, milk jug and plate of cookies and carried it through to place it on a little table in front of the fire. She motioned Peter over to take a seat on the enormous lounge.

"I'll be right back," she said. "I just really need to splash some water on my face."

While she was away, Peter availed himself of the kitchen sink for the same purpose and found himself feeling markedly better.

While Gwen poured the tea, Peter asked, "So where's your family?"

"Oh, Mom and the boys went to stay with my aunt until Sunday night."

"How come you didn't go?"

Gwen handed Peter a cup and saucer with a few cookies nestled under the warm cup. She lifted her tea cup from her saucer and settled back into the lounge, cradling the cup in the nest of her hands. "Oscorp is trying to rebuild and establish what of Dr Connors projects can be salvaged. They've asked me to come in over the weekend to try and help with inventories and notes."

She looked over at him with a sly smile. "Want me to swing you a job? You've got a clearance pass from your work with Connors, right? You probably knew more about his work than any of us." Gwen went silent for a moment.

Peter sipped his tea, lost for a moment in the idea of progressing his father's work and salvaging the good from the crazy ideas of Dr Connors. He looked over to see Gwen smiling at him.

"You really do love Science, don't you?" she joked and they both laughed. "I'll check it out in the morning but I'm sure it's a done deal. Be ready to come in early."

He grinned. "Do you think you'll be able to get me my very own shiny white lab coat?"

"Might be slightly less figure-hugging than your current outfit," Gwen giggled.

Peter looked down and realised that he was still in his bright red and blue suit. He laughed and caught Gwen's twinkling eyes. He reached over and gently took the teacup out of Gwen's hands, placing it next to his own on the table. He leaned back against the arm rest of the lounge pulling Gwen towards him until she lay next to him, cradled in his arms.

"So the whole day has gone by and I haven't tried to kiss you yet," Peter pointed out. "Aren't you impressed by my self-control?"

"Oh," Gwen said, "That was self-control, was it? I just thought maybe you were chicken."

"This little scenario I've manoeuvred us into here, does this look like I'm chicken?"

"Mmm," Gwen nestled a little deeper into his arms. "I guess it would seem I misjudged you. Though, on the other hand, it's also true that you haven't shut up and kissed me yet."

Peter grinned broadly, then looking into her eyes, grew serious. He gently cupped her face with his hands, running his thumb along her jawline as he had done all those weeks before. Gwen felt so tiny but so safe wrapped in his strong arms. He wound his hand over the back of her neck and up into her hair bringing her face close enough to his for their mouths to meet. The sensation of his lips on hers felt simultaneously like coming home and rocketing into space. He held her to him with such strength and tenderness and when, at last, they broke apart, she could see that his eyes were glistening with emotion. He closed his eyes and turned his face away from hers. He faltered. "Is this…?"

"Is this what, Peter?" she whispered.

"Is this ok?" He looked back but his expression grew more harrowed. "I made that promise to your dad. Are you going to be able to trust me if I'm just not going to keep it?.

Gwen smiled sadly. "Fathers always think they know best for their daughters. I guess Daddy just didn't have time to realise…" She broke off and nuzzled into his neck.

Peter was puzzled. "Gwen?"

She took a deep breath and pulled back to look into his eyes. "Daddy just didn't have time to realise that it was too late. I'd already fallen in love with you."

Peter threw his head back as far as it would go and slowly shook his head in what she was beginning to realise was a bit of a signature move. But she couldn't see his face and he wasn't saying anything. Suddenly cold fear washed over her. It hadn't even occurred to her that telling Peter she loved him would freak him out. It seemed that, in everything they'd been through, they'd surely be past that teenage angst of working out how many days to leave between calls and how much caution to use to make sure you weren't too full-on. She felt she had to try to say something, not to change or lessen what she'd said, it was the truth, but to somehow get it back in its box for a while. She wanted to speak but no words came so she found herself repeating, "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

Peter immediately realised the doubt his silence had caused Gwen and quickly brought his face level with hers. "No, no, no! Gwen, can you just give me a minute to explain how much you misinterpreted my reaction just now?"

She nodded, nervously biting her lip.

"I'm terrible at speeches but I've got a speech here, ok?" He took a deep breath. "This morning I woke up to a pretty crap world, same as I have every day for the last few months. Your dad is dead, my parents are dead, my uncle is dead, my aunt is shattered by grief. I promised your dad I wouldn't see you again, so all I had to live for was Spiderman. That's not nothing, I know, but it left a pretty bleak existence for me.

Since I arrived in English this morning and finally accepted the fact that I could never keep a promise to keep away from you, I feel back in the world as Peter. Add to that the fact that I spent this afternoon finding out what an awesome skater you are, which, I have to admit, I was never even creative enough to imagine in a dream-girl, and now, it turns out that the real-life dream-girl that I've been in love with since Freshman Biology has fallen in love with me! I'm so totally ready for that and, if it's really even possible that it's true that someone like me could be loved by someone like you, then I want, no, Gwen, I _need_ you to tell me as often as you want to say it!"

He paused. "How was that for a speech?"

Gwen was beaming. "I love you, Peter."

Peter's face broke into his huge smile. "I love you, Gwen."

As their lips met again, Gwen suddenly felt an odd sensation against her ankle. "Umm, Peter? What's that buzzing?"

Peter was already fishing about inside his boot. "Wo, way to ruin the moment." He eventually found his phone and turned off the alarm. He looked her matter-of-factly in the face. "I cannot believe I'm about to do this, especially seeing as we have this place to ourselves and everything, but I have to go. The alarm helps me get home on time to have a cup of tea with Aunt Mae before she goes to bed. If I manage to do that, then she gets to sleep and I can get out at night if I need to without having to worry that she's awake worrying about me."

Gwen smiled. "You're sweet to your aunt, Peter."

Peter shook his head emphatically. "No, I've been a jerk and I'm trying to make amends." He paused to think. "Hey, Gwen..."

"Mmm?"

He grinned. "Seeing as I love you, and seeing as you love me and we've said it out loud to one another so that it's all official…"

Gwen giggled. "Mmm?"

"Wanna come over and meet Aunt Mae tomorrow night?"

"Do you think she'll be stressed or relieved to think that all this time you've not been at home, you've been with me?"

Peter pulled back as if to look her up and down appraisingly. "You're pretty presentable, you know. I think she'll probably think you've taken pity on me and are sorting me out. Elocution lessons, table manners, that kind of thing."

Gwen punched him playfully on the arm. He yelped dramatically and play-fell off the lounge.

"You're gonna call me early about work tomorrow, right?"

She rolled to the edge of the lounge to look down at him reclining casually on his back on the floor, arms folded behind his head. "Right."

"Not sure I've got much in the way of enthusiasm for the work, but I'm all enthusiasm for you, so hopefully that'll count."

Gwen fixed him with a look. "Peter, I know you, remember? You're going to be the nerdiest guy in the building tomorrow."

Peter smirked. "Well, it _was_ your brain that attracted me in Freshman Bio."

Gwen giggled. "Get out!"

Peter raised himself onto his knees next to her, stroked her hair away from her face and tenderly kissed her goodnight. "Gwen, I love you."

"I love you, Peter."

"That is _never_ going to get old," Peter said emphatically over his shoulder as he padded back to her bedroom.

Silence fell and when Gwen finally almost floated to her room she noticed a post-it from over on her desk stuck to her pillow. In Peter's unmistakeable scrawl it declared:

_ Peter loves Gwen_.

* * *

_Ok, so this is where it ends. It's true that there's probably room for a plot here and all kinds of things could happen once they actually start working together at Oscorp. There was that hint about people working out who he was from the videos on the internet, really, anything could happen, but sadly, it's not gonna get written by me. Sorry about that! If I've left you totally unsatisfied, let me recommend this Peter/Gwen story by someone else - I'm following this one and it's got a real plot and everything!_

_ s/8285113/1/Lying_Heart_

_If you're into Harry Potter and want to read more fanfic by me, check out my profile for some links to some stuff I've published on other sites. _

_Would love to hear what you think so jump on and review! _


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